Victoria Reinhardt, 59, is running for her 5th term on the board of the Ramsey County Commissioners. She faces challenger Dennis Dunnigan in the November 2012 election.

Blake Huffman, 47, a Shoreview City Council member, is running for a seat on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners. He faces Frank Mabley, a Shoreview attorney, in the November 2012 election. The seat is currently held by Tony Bennett, who did not survive the 4-way primary in August, which also included former Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher

State Sen. Mary Jo McGuire, 56, DFL-St. Paul, is running for a seat on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners. She faces former conservative talk radio host Sue Jeffers and New Brighton Council Member Mary Burg in the August 14, 2012 primary. (Courtesy photo)

Shoreview City Council Member Blake Huffman defeated Shoreview attorney Frank Mabley for a seat on the Ramsey County Board.

Huffman replaces Tony Bennett, a 16-year incumbent whose re-election effort ended in the August primary for the District 1 seat.

With about 96 percent of the precincts reporting Tuesday night, Huffman was leading Mabley 55 to 44 percent, according to unofficial results. The seven-member board is officially nonpartisan, but the addition of Huffman, a Republican, means the board will continue to be occupied by a moderate Republican and six DFL members.

“I don’t worry about the partisan stuff. I try to avoid the labels,” Huffman said. “I’m just a big fan of doing things better and delivering better solutions.

Huffman, a Wells Fargo vice president who also runs a program aimed at placing single mothers into rehabbed homes, has been critical of efforts to renovate the St. Paul Union Depot as a transit hub, but has been more open to the Central Corridor light-rail project as an economic development tool. He said that as one of seven commissioners, collaboration will be crucial on the board for Ramsey County to become more competitive on property tax rates.

Unlike Mabley, Huffman was critical of a multimillion-dollar proposal to partner with a start-up firm on a county fiber-optic broadband network. A contract proposal was scrapped Tuesday, Nov. 6, in favor of issuing a new request for proposals.

DISTRICT 2

Come January, outgoing state Sen. Mary Jo McGuire, DFL-Roseville, will have a new job.

With the support of outgoing Ramsey County Commissioner Jan Parker, the longtime lawmaker defeated former bar owner and talk radio host Sue Jeffers of New Brighton to win the District 2 seat, 51 percent to 48 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

McGuire, who spent 14 years as a state representative and two as a senator, decided not to run for re-election after losing her party’s endorsement to fellow Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, who would have been pit against her in the August primary because of redistricting.

Jeffers, the former owner of the Stub & Herbs bar in Minneapolis, had not sought official endorsements but nevertheless presented herself as a conservative firebrand, critical of light rail and other county spending priorities.

The District 2 seat was open because Parker chose not to run for a fifth term.

“I have always talked about ideas over ideology,” Reinhardt said, “You come up with solutions and reach out to partners.”

Dunnigan had criticized rising property taxes and county spending, especially investments in the light-rail line and the Union Depot project.

Reinhardt had argued that she and other commissioners have taken pains to cut the county budget by $15 million, despite unfunded state and federal human service mandates. Dunnigan also ran against Reinhardt, a 16-year incumbent, in 2008.

Frederick Melo came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings an aggressive East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets manically at @FrederickMelo

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